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| Only 15 of the 56 boats entered in this year's Middle Sea Race finished because of gales that swept the course including a tornado that slammed one boat with 70 knots. Above is Class 4 winner MEDBANK ELUSIVE. |
LESSONS FROM THE WILD AND WINDY ROLEX MIDDLE SEA RACE |
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What a difference a year makes. Above are two pictures of the same boat in the same race – one year apart. The boat is the Beneteau 40.7 Air Malta Falcon skippered by Martin Scicluna and both shots were taken in the Rolex Middle Sea Race. The drifting shot was taken in front of Stromboli (an active volcano) in 2006 and the windy shot was the same boat one year later. For the story about Martin Scicluna’s 2007 race, click here for an article on the Yachting World web site.
The 606-mile race starts and ends at the island nation of Malta and goes around Sicily (see race course map). Arthur Podesta, sailing his Beneteau 45f5 MEDBANK ELUSIVE, battled the elements for a second consecutive class victory to be the top finishing Maltese boat in the race.
MEDBANK ELUSIVE spent most of the race in high winds and punishing waves, which pushed the crew hard as they fought to make every sail change. The battle hardened crew included his daughter Maya and two sons Aaron and Christoph.
Podesta said that the winds blew 30-50-plus knots for the first two nights of the race; “As the wind went up and down we kept changing sail configurations in order to maintain a high speed.” That meant his his crew worked continuously at reefing and unreefing while getting pounded by spray, as it raced through many sail changes. "I was impressed by the amount of punishment that the UK-Halsey sails took, especially the flogging while getting them down in 57 knots of wind", said Podesta. "The sails withstood the violent winds very well and retained their shape perfectly. Many other yachts retired because of various reasons including severe sail damage. In fact any sail, yacht and crew would have got a battering in these conditions, but I was impressed by how well the UK-Halsey sails handled this situation, and I am even happier to say that our sails remained in a perfect condition. This was the mainsail’s third Middle Sea Race. The new Matrix Titanium genoas seem to be just as rugged.”
When the wind speed went over 50 knots, (in fact up to 57K), they decided to go for a storm jib and storm trysail. Arthur Podesta offers some valuable insights on using storm sails based on his experiences in the Middle Sea Race:
“As for the use of storm sails, I would advise that one should first change to the storm jib before setting the storm trysail. Working at the mast is much safer with a smaller headsail when the main is down. As for trimming, I found that the boat’s directional stability was better with the storm jib over sheeted, and the trysail should be trimmed by both sheets in order to keep the clew closer to the centre of the boat.
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ELUSIVE's crew after crossing the finish line.
©ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi |
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The ROLEX Middle Sea Race course |
“One other point to mention about the trysail is that it would have been much easier to use if the mast had a separate track. (Editor’s note: When you have a separate track for the trysail, you don’t have to wait until the main comes down to get the trysail rigged. By the time the main comes down, the wind is screeching over 45 knots and that is not the time you want to be standing by the goose neck feeding slides into the mast. It is dangerous as well as very hard to do. Click here to see UK-Halsey’s 12-minute video on using storm sails.) The type of sliders should also be top quality, we broke three plastic ones which had to be replaced by metal ones.”
Remarkably, Podesta has competed in all 28 of the races held to date and he said, "It was a most exhilarating experience to be in winds of 57 knots; knowing that the sails could take it and would not let me down made racing the boat that much easier. Many other yachts retired because of various reasons including severe sail damage. In fact any sail, yacht and crew would have gotten a battering in these conditions, but I was impressed by how well the UK-Halsey sails handled this situation, and I am even happier to say that our sails remained in a perfect condition."
Visit the Regatta News web site to see pictures of the storm fraught Rolex Middle Sea Race. http://www.regattanews.com/photos.asp?eventid=172 racing the boat that much easier. |
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| PUSHING THE RULES OR PUSHING TOO FAR |
 UK-Halsey Sailmakers’ latest rules quiz (23) deals with some aggressive sailing in the J/109 fleet this fall. Two boats were VMG reaching with spinnakers. The windward boat pushed the boom from the starboard side of the boat to the port side and then hailed starboard. Was he on starboard? Watch the animation, read the quiz, read the facts found and then read the rules that applied. Follow the hot links to get the exact wording of the rules. Feel free to replay the animation as many times as you want. It’s animated, it’s free, and it’s private (no embarrassment in front of crew, competitors or judges). And best of all it is the easiest way to learn the rules of sailing. Take your time and study the more than 20 other quizzes on the site. www.ukhalsey.com/RulesQuiz/index.asp
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| WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE LOCAL POND IS NO LONGER A CHALLENGE? |
The 2006 Round Ireland Champion CAVATINA took on a new challenge in June. Acting skipper Dave Hennessy looks back at the Cork yacht’s biggest win yet, in the doublehanded Azores and Back Race.
 This race started out as a shorter version of the OSTAR (Observer TranAtlantic Race), which required a three month commitment. The AZAB’s 2500 mile course only takes a month to complete. The two legs, Falmouth to Punto Delgado, on the isle of Sao Miguel in the Azores are 1240 miles each, which take 7-10 days per leg with a one week lay over in an exotic destination. The following article was written by Hennessy and published in the September/October issue of AFLOAT magazine.
CAVATINA, a 30-year-old Granda 38, lined up in Falmouth on June 2nd with myself and Eric Lisson on board for the outward leg and Sean Hanley replacing Eric on the return leg. As I was doing both legs, I was acting skipper. We had sailed three Round Irelands and a Fastnet together on CAVATINA, but this was our biggest challenge to date.
The outward leg was dominated by a low-pressure system to the NE of the Azores.
Instead of tracking east, the system stalled and was feeding E and NE winds across the course. This made for a fast passage of eight days, but we ended up sailing through the center of the low with a 45-knot northwesterly awaiting us on the other side. We finished well up in the fleet and soon the wind backed to the SW, giving the boats behind us a beat to the finish and giving us a few hours credit for the return leg.
The second leg started on June 19th in a fresh north wind. All of our research in the local watering spots paid off well. We were advised that the best wind was close to the shore. I had my doubts as we were to the south of the island in the lee of volcanic peaks. But, fair enough, a little down the coast we came on the quicker boats about a mile offshore sitting upright, becalmed, while we had plenty of breeze. We short tacked up to the tip of the island, the wind lightening all the while. We rounded, snapping at the heels of some Open 40s and feeling confident about the next 1240 miles.
The next three days, however, gave us fog, drizzle, and light westerlies. At one point the following boats sailed up with a new breeze to within three miles of us. We finally got the breeze and set our kite. We had lost 13 miles to a Red Admiral 36. From there on, the wind freshened to a tight spinnaker reach, pedal to the floor and touching wood often that nothing would break. By Sunday, five days into the leg, the wind had veered to the north and was blowing 30 knots. We were close hauled and the motion was hard going. Cavatina became know as the bruise ship.
By Tuesday, it eased a little and backed to the west enough for another spinnaker reach. We used dousing socks on all downwind sails. For 60 miles we rushed through the night, phosphorescence gushing past in the dark through the Channel shipping lanes, picking up the loom of the Lizard to steer by, hitting nine knots plus on a seven-ton boat.
We crossed the finish line at 0755 after eight days of sailing – three hours on, three hours off, not tired but buzzing from the experience. After the light early days we had pushed really hard. The boat, sails and gear had stood up to it. We finished in second place but with enough time in credit from the outward leg, we ended up first in class and first overall in the AZAB 2007.
The satisfaction of completing a race like this something else. I would seriously recommend short-handed distance racing if cruising or buoy racing doesn’t do it for you anymore.
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| NEWS FROM UK-HALSEY BELGIUM |
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LUCKY DUCK wins North Sea Championship
The JPK960 owned by Vincent Willemart had a great season 2007. Willemart and the crew of LUCKY DUCK won four of the five races that made up the North Sea Championship. (Ostend, Nieuwpoort, Zeebrugge and the Ostend-Ramgate-Dunkerque race). The return leg to Ramsgate was memorable when the 31-footer hit a top speed of 19.34 knots!!
LUCKY DUCK also was the overall winner of the 550-mile race that went from Nieuwpoort (Bel), turned at the Isle of Wight, went to Sark, and finished at Nieuwpoort.
Finally, the boat won the Belgian IRC Nationals. Lefebvre Michel Sr and Jr from UK-Halsey Belgium were part of the crew.
Rounding out the podium at North Sea Championship with UK-Halsey in the corner of the sails in Class 3 was the HALF TONNER FANTASY(2nd) and the First 31.7 MR SANDMAN(3rd). |
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GENERAL TAPIOCA winning shorthanded as well as fully crewed
GENERAL TAPIOCA, a Half Tonner, finished third in class in the 2500-mile AZAB even though she was the smallest boat of the fleet. Well done to Philippe Pilate and Laurent Vancutsem. TAPIOCA also won the Breskens Sailing Week and was third in the Half Ton Cup sailed in Dublin this year. |
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ZEYDON CHOOSES UK-HALSEY
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Michel Lefebvre from UK-Halsey Belgium will make the sails for the new Zeydon 60. This brand new 60-footer is a modern luxury off-shore yacht developed by a Belgian manufacturer in close coorporation with the BMW design group in the USA. More info about the boat go to www.zeydon.com The sails will be a full set of Matrix Titanium Endurance. Membranes will be made by UK-Halsey France. The boat will be launched in March 2008. |
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WILD AND WINDY ON THE WEST COAST OF AUSTRLIA |
Racing on the West Coast of Australia is as wild as it gets. The Indian Ocean piles up on a very thinly populated shore. Add to that strong winds, big waves and tough as steel sailors and you get some pretty exciting racing. This year’s Fremantle to Geraldton and back was no exception. The 220-mile leg north to Geraldton was even tougher for the crew of the Beneteau First 34.7 MINDS EYE, which hit a whale. At 2100 on the first night while sliding down the track at 12-17 knots in a 30 knot southerly, Minds Eye hit a hump back whale.
UK-Halsey Fremantle's Geoff Bishop was sitting at the chart table preparing to come on deck at the time of impact. “I thought we had hit a shipping container,” said Bishop. “The impact was so loud. The crew was yelling whale, when the whales tail came up over the windward rail and knocked the helmsman flat onto his back, with a barnacle dent in his forehead. He was very lucky that he was not hurt more seriously.”
The boat kept on sailing and felt fine, after checking the bilge's for water, Bishop went back on deck to assess the damage. Upon shinning the torch over the side he saw that the bow was stoved in and the water tight bulkhead had cracked along the hull, allowing water to come into the cabin. Their race was over; they notified race control and sailed 30nm back to Two Rocks.
“I would like to thank Race Control and the local sea rescue group for helping and keeping and eye on us while we sailed back to dry land,” said Bishop for the crew of MINDS EYE.
All other competitors made it safely to Geraldton many with stories of near misses with whales and a very fast t trip north.
UK Halsey customer, Janet Williamson's Thompson 980 DARK ENERGY sporting a new Titanium mainsail went on to finish second in IRC behind Steve Hindmarsh's Mumm 30 LEEWANA, under YAH. Janet finished 2nd behind the pocket maxi WALK ON THE WILD SIDE when scored under YAH.
Geoff did the second part of the race back to Fremantle on the C&C 115 CREWS CONTROL. He reported: “The southerly trip started in 12 knots of wind and four hours later the fleet got blasted by 35-45 knots of wind for 24 hours. Five-meter-high waves swept the course; three of them broke right over the boat. CREWS CONTROL handled the wind and waves really well. From about 1830 on the Friday night we sailed with the No. 4 genoa and double-reefed main until about 0400 when the reef line broke forcing us to drop the main completely. When the sun came up and the wind dropped back to 30 knots we fixed the reef line, rehoisted the double-reefed main and crossed the finish at 1500 on Saturday in 40 knots of wind. Four of the yachts retired and most of the fleet limped home with sail damage and tired crews.
“CREWS CONTROL's UK-Halsey sails held up, with no damage to the Tape-Drive mainsail. The Tape-Drive No. 4 did suffer some damage – we broke a batten.
“Again UK-Halsey customers featured well in the final placing: Trevor Taylor’s Farr 47 AUSMAID finished first across the line, and corrected to first in both IRC and YAH. CREWS CONTROL finished third in IRC behind STEEL DE BREEZE, while correcting to fourth in YAH.”
To get an idea of the conditions, watch the YouTube video shot by the crew of the AUSMAID at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Se-JZnThAKM
as well as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqb3QJAX-Kw
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Cyril Baillie’s Beneteau 40.7 SAYANN 2 pulled off a massive win in 43-boat IRC D division of the Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2007, formally the Nouilargue Regatta. After four races in moderate winds, she won by three points over another Ben. 40.7. Jean Claude Bertrand’s A35 TCHIN TCHIN, also a UK-Halsey France customer, was third. The huge division consisted of four other 40.7s, X35s, Ben. 36.7s, A35s and many others.
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| TAPE-DRIVE DUFFEL BAGS ARE BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND |
 Our distinctive Tape-Drive duffels come in three sizes. All three have an outside zipper pocket on one end, a grab handle on the other end, a small inside pocket and an adjustable shoulder strap. The bag material is a polyester laminate with a black Diax and the tapes are copper-colored PBO Zylon.
The small sized bag will make you an instant hit with skippers who are concerned about keeping unnecessary weight off their boats. This 9x9x18 inch bag is big enough for a jacket, gloves, sunscreen, keys and wallet. The price is $35.
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The large bag is perfect for a long trip. This cavernous bag is 14x14x30 inches and the price is $50.
These bags and others are available through our online store. Ordering is via a secure e- commerce server. Just click here.
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